SophieHatter, good to see someone going at it by hand! To your first concern about sewing on the binding, here's a YouTube video with Becky at Power Tools with Thread where you can actually see how she does it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPMHvDTn_b8
And watching Kate do her hand quilting might be helpful at The Last Homely House East of the Sea, also on YouTube. Kate pieces by machine, but then does the rest by hand. Just love this woman, watch this one all the way to the end where she gets muddled with which way the binding goes on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beW6h-SKGN0